First (Wrong) Impressions: A Modern Pride & Prejudice (9 page)

“Not at all, Mrs. Bennet.”

She patted his arm. “Look at that. Such manners. I’m sorry for the savages comment before, at Maria’s party. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Charles smiled politely, even though Caroline turned her head away, clearly upset.

Dad shook Darcy’s hand and they exchanged sedate greetings. Mom ignored Darcy completely. He wasn’t dating any of her daughters, so why should she waste her time on him? This, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is the extent of Mom’s social skills.

They sat down to dinner and Lizzy had high hopes that the noise would reduce once their mouths were full of roasted chicken, scalloped potatoes, and green beans. Sadly, the food didn’t seem to slow her family down at all.

Dad winked when Lizzy looked at him. “Lizzy, my dear, are you free next weekend? I need help moving boxes at the store. You’re so good at manual labour.”

Lizzy felt her cheeks heat up and she held back an embarrassed chuckle “Oh my God, Dad.” She gave him a reproachful look.

“It’s just that my other daughters are all so delicate. You’re as close to a son as I’m ever going to get.”

“What are you saying?” Mom exclaimed. “Lizzy’s useless at moving things. She’s always too tired. Besides, we have Charles now, don’t we? He’s practically family.”

The smile on Charles’s face vanished and a panicked expression appeared.

“After Jane’s accident, I thought no one would have her. She was pretty serious with this one young man, whose name I will never speak again. What a horrible boy! Poor Jane laid up in the hospital, having her leg hacked off with a chainsaw; the doctor used a chainsaw! Honest! Hacked off her leg and she lost all of her dreams and ambitions. There she was, dependent on him for the rest of her life, and what does he do? Does he act like a man? Does he propose to her as soon as she comes out of surgery? No, of course not. He dumps Jane while she’s in the hospital and runs off with some floozy he’s just met.”

“Mom,” Lizzy urged, “no one wants to hear about that.”

As usual, Mom ignored her. “But now look at her and you.” She beamed at Charles. “Knowing my Jane is with someone like you takes away all of my worries.”

Lizzy tried to catch Jane’s eye, but Jane was busy staring at her plate, her face redder by the moment. To his credit, Charles retained a small smile, even if his eyes were wide. Caroline stared openly at Mom, while Darcy seemed determined to cut his chicken into perfect squares.

“It’s not cheap looking after an adult child, you know. We had so many expectations of Jane’s figure skating career. She was at the National level when the accident happened. Now it’s all gone. We wondered who would want her.” Mom let out a long sigh. “But now you’ve come along and will give her such a good life. I’m so happy, Charles.”

Lizzy caught her father’s eye and sent him a pleading look. He turned to Charles. “Well, Charles, you are welcome to marry any of my daughters if it will give Winnie some piece of mind.”

Charles laughed a little. “I’ll remember that.”

“I’d put a good word in for Lizzy, but it looks like you’ve already picked a favourite.” Dad gave Jane a good-natured grin, though Jane seemed ready to burst into tears.

“Mary, how is the website going?” Lizzy asked, desperate to change the topic.

“Ugh, no one cares about the store,” Lydia interrupted. “So, guess what? I have an audition next week for a reality show.”

“No one cares,” Mary said laconically. She turned to Lizzy. “The website is going slowly. I’m still working on the queuing system for the custom work, since that mostly depends on you and Mom.”

“Custom work?” Darcy asked. “You don’t just work at The Faith?”

“No, I work for Dad, too.” Happy to move the conversation away from Charles looking after Jane for the rest of her life, Lizzy went on, “I make geek accessories. Dice bags, cosplay odds and ends, capes, tunics, things like that.”

“Lizzy, that reminds me,” Dad said. “Lyndsay is going to be in town tomorrow. She wanted to drop by and show you some new stuff.”

“Great! I’ll send her an email. I’m off tomorrow.”

Dad cut his chicken. “She says she has some new cosplay suppliers.”

“What is a cosplay?” Caroline asked.

“It’s when nerdy people dress up like characters from movies,” Lydia supplied.

Darcy thought for a moment. “Like Star Trek characters?”

“Exactly. I do generic clothes mostly, but I’ll do the simpler custom jobs too. Mom does all of the fancy dresses.”

Darcy made more inquiries about the nature of Dad’s company,
Adventure Armory
, learning that Mary did the books, and handled the website and internet orders; Jane looked after store orders and marketing, and worked at the store; Lizzy sewed accessories, and Mom made costumes. She also made wedding dresses commissioned by the geek crowd wanting something different.

“Unfortunately, our rent doubled at the store. I regret signing the long-term lease,” Dad added. “It wasn’t a good business decision, but we’re making the most of it.”

“Once the website’s updated, it’ll help,” Jane said.

“Why didn’t you think about selling online earlier?” Darcy asked. “Or moving to a different location?”

If Dad had been planning a reply, Mom cut him off. “Who do you think you are, telling us how we should run our business? Who asked you?”

Darcy was silent.

“Mom, Darcy didn’t mean anything by it,” Lizzy offered. “He’s just making conversation.”

Darcy didn’t respond, but he met Lizzy’s gaze and his expression softened.

“He has a strange way of doing it,” Mom said. “I’ll have him know, our company made over one hundred thousand dollars last year in profit. We don’t need his help.”

Caroline snorted, and Charles gave her a typical older-brother glare. It didn’t have any effect, of course. Darcy clenched his jaw and stared at his plate.

“Mom, please,” Lizzy pleaded, “let it be.”

“No. I will not
let it be
. That man thinks he’s better than us. I’m quite proud of our business and we don’t need him to tell us how to run it.”

Dad laughed at his wife, but did nothing to discourage her. He loved a good scene.

Surprisingly, it was Lydia who rescued them. “Charles, you promised to throw a party. You said so at the wedding. Remember?”

“I haven’t forgotten. I wasn’t that drunk.” He laughed, a bit louder than necessary. “As soon as the renovations are done, I promise I’ll have one.”

“Seriously, Charles?” Caroline asked.

“Why not? I’m looking after it for a year; I don’t see why I can’t have a small get-together to celebrate the longest renovation in history.”

“We don’t know anyone,” Caroline said.

“You know us.” Lydia’s voice dripped with contempt. “We’re company enough.”

Charles smiled. “Definitely. We can invite the Charlottes and a few friends I have in town. It’ll be a blast.”

That set Mom on the right path once more, and the conversation turned to house renovations, the perils of bad plumbing, and Lydia’s party-planning skills.

Lizzy looked at Darcy until he lifted his gaze long enough to meet hers. She mouthed, “Sorry.” She didn’t like him, but her mother had gone well over the line. It was like she’d made a bet with Dad to see which of them could embarrass themselves the most.

Darcy, for his part, gave Lizzy a nano-shrug and a tight smile.

If there was one thing her mother was good at, it was getting on people’s nerves.

****

October 5

Lizzy’s dining table was covered in books, fabric samples, and photocopies. She was packing them into three piles: for her parents, for herself, and for Lyndsay to take back with her. Lyndsay Pete was her Dad’s sales rep. Normally they dealt by email and phone, but Lyndsay’s specialist was in Edmonton, so she came up every few months for her appointments and dropped by with new samples and ideas for Lizzy.

“I like the idea of focusing on generic cosplay items,” Lizzy said, putting several fabric swatches into a giant plastic baggie. “I’m tired of making cloaks, to be honest.”

Lyndsay laughed as she slowly pushed herself to her feet with the help of her walker’s handle. “You can make some real money if you want to go down the sexy end of things.”

Lizzy snorted. “No. Butt plugs and furry tails are out.”

“Too bad. There’s a market for those.” Lyndsay’s smile said she was only half-heartedly teasing.

“Can you imagine my dad selling those?”

“Or your mother?”

They roared with laughter. Lizzy put aside a printed list. “Thanks for this. I didn’t realize how many shops were looking for locally-made gear. I’ll get Jane to call them and see what we can do.”

“Happy to help. If you’re making money, I make money.” Lyndsay pushed her papers together with her clawed hands and shoved them one by one into the handled box. “Can you give me a hand getting all this back to the car?”

“Of course.” Lizzy packed up the rest and carried Lyndsay’s walker down the outdoors stairs, before helping her down; the railing was too rickety to be trusted.

Lyndsay pushed her walker towards her car, while Lizzy carried the boxes. She heard the outdoor screen door open and slam shut and turned around; Darcy was coming down the stairs with the remaining boxes from inside.

“Which one is that?” Lyndsay whispered.

“The snobby one.”

Lyndsay sized him up. “If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”

“He’s good to look at, but then he speaks.”

“That’s not what I’d want his mouth to be doing.”

Lizzy barked a laugh and bumped shoulders with Lyndsay. “You are so bad.”

“Hell, I’d wear a tail for him.”

“Shut up!” Lizzy chided, still laughing as Darcy approached them. “Hey. Thanks!”

He gave a tight smile. “You should have called out. I’d have helped sooner.”

“It’s nothing we can’t handle,” Lyndsay said, a wicked grin on her face.

Boxes packed in the trunk of the car, Lizzy folded the walker and placed it in the back seat. Lyndsay got herself into her car and, one hand on the custom wheel knob, waved, and pulled away.

“Thanks for helping.”

“You’re welcome.”

“MS?” Darcy asked.

Lizzy was confused for a moment, before she realized he was referring to Lyndsay. “No, a form of arthritis. She was born like that. She’s actually younger than me. She used to have to take the bus everywhere, but she ended up getting a grant and they taught her how to drive. They provided the adjustments to a car and,” Lizzy shrugged. “Now she drives herself everywhere.”

“Why doesn’t Jane drive?” Seeing Lizzy’s expression sour, he added, “I mean, if Lyndsay can drive, can’t Jane?”

“You’ll have to ask her.” Lizzy walked past him into the house, her heart thudding. She didn’t like Darcy bringing it up, no matter how innocent he pretended to be. It had been six years since Jane’s accident, but Lizzy still felt the sting of that night. Mary seemed to have come to terms with what happened, but Lizzy hadn’t. Lydia had been too young to understand.

Why the hell was he still there anyway? Everyone else had gone out. Lizzy wasn’t sure why Darcy stayed, considering the fuss Caroline made, whining and huffing to try to get him to come along. He said he had a lot of work to finish. He could have just gone and left her alone in her house for a few hours.

Darcy came back in and went downstairs without saying a word. Just the way she liked it. She packed away her choices from Lyndsay; she’d work on sketches and patterns later. For now, she needed to get another article edited and sent off.

Lizzy plunked her laptop on the kitchen counter and put on her headphones. She made decent money selling magazine articles to various religious and political magazines. She didn’t submit to the big guns yet, but she was building a solid listing. Besides, she was sharing her knowledge of poverty with people who voted and make decisions. It was her small contribution to changing the world.

This article was a fluff piece for an atheist magazine. In her opinion, too many donation and volunteer drives relied on churches and Christian groups, when there were plenty of secular folks who wanted to help and didn’t know where or how. This would be her third such article; she’d already sold two elsewhere.

Since she had her headphones on, she didn’t hear Darcy creep up behind her until he tapped her on the shoulder. An inhuman shriek escaped her and she grabbed her laptop to swing it like a club.

“It’s me!” Darcy shouted, raising his own laptop in front of his face.

Lizzy lowered her computer, gasping. Her heart actually hurt. “You scared me.”

“Clearly,” he said.

Between deep breaths, she asked, “What do you want?”

“I can’t seem to access the Wi-Fi.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s pretty flaky downstairs.”

“Does it work better up here?’

“Yeah.” An awkward silence fell between them as Lizzy realized Darcy was waiting for an invitation to work upstairs. Damn, she really was looking forward to having her own space to work. “You’re welcome to share the kitchen table.”

“Thank you,” he said and sat down. He put on the headphones from around his neck and opened his laptop.

Two hours later, they still hadn’t spoken a word. He didn’t even look at her.

Chapter 10

October 6

Lizzy picked up the phone and heard Denny Carter. “Lizzy, are you still doing community hours?”

Lizzy leaned back in her chair. Community hours. The bane of many a non-profit’s existence. People who got into minor trouble with the law and were assigned community work to pay for their transgression. They regularly showed up late, left early, took three-hour lunch breaks to run an “errand”, and yelled at you when you refused to lie to the court clerk or probation officer when they called to confirm the twenty hours of volunteer work reported…and you reported that they did eight.

“Depends,” she said.

“It’s an acquaintance of mine. He tried to break up a fight at an Oilers game and ended up in the middle of it.”

Lizzy snorted. “That’s why you never break up a fight at an Oilers game. How many hours?”

Denny ummed and ahhed. “I don’t remember exactly, but I think it’s thirty.”